Flour tortilla chips can be made in the simplest manner or by using a more complex method from scratch. If you're going to make them by means of pre-maid packaged tortillas, that's fine: just cut up the tortillas, grease them lightly with a small amount of oil and then bake or fry them until crispy. However, if you're going to start from scratch, you'll need 3 cups of flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, 4 tbsp. margarine and 1 1/4 cups warm water.
Making the Dough
Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl until well combined. Cut in the margarine with a fork until all the dry ingredients are well mingled with the margarine. Mix the dry ingredients and margarine with your hands until it starts to get dough-like. Start adding the warm water, except just do it a little at a time and mix the dough with your hands. You want the dough to be soft but without stickiness. You might find that you use slightly less than 1 1/4 cups of water. That's fine. Judge how much water the dough needs by the quality of the dough in your hands.
Cooking the Tortillas
Divide the lump of dough that you already have into 12 small balls. Set them aside and start to heat up the griddle or comal. You can use a frying pan if you don't have a proper griddle. Put the heat on the stove to medium. You want the heat to be hot enough to heat up the pan but you don't want the tortillas to cook too quickly once they get on it. Roll out the tortillas with a rolling pin until they are almost paper thin. Place each tortilla on the griddle for a few seconds. They barely need any time to cook. Turn the tortilla over and you should see speckles of brown spots all around it.
Making the Tortilla Chips
Lay your finished tortillas in a flat stack. Using a sharp knife, cut the stack in half and then into quarters, so that you have a pile of four equal-sized triangles. Heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Add any spices to your tortilla triangles, such as salt or pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic salt, whatever you like. Place the tortilla pieces evenly around the cookie sheet. You're going to bake the tortillas for approximately six to seven minutes, until their edges start to curl. Be certain to watch the tortillas very carefully after five minutes because they could start to burn easily.
Let the finished chips cool, which will give them more time to crisp and curl slightly.
Alternatives to Baking
Fry the tortilla pieces into crispy chips, if you're so inclined. Put 2 inches of the oil of your choice into a frying pan and heat until hot. Add the chips to the pan and turn them over once. They cook incredibly fast so you have to watch them carefully.
Tags: your hands, baking powder, baking powder salt, flour baking, flour baking powder, from scratch